Amazing Love from Israel

Hello All,

Yes, its the next day and I get to blog! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures again, but I still wanted to write to fill those in on my amazing day!

Today was not jam packed with crazy hiking or site seeing, but it was an amazing day! We arrived in Tel Aviv today where we visited first the border of the Gaza Strip, for those who don't know this area is highly dangerous. In 2009 over 10,000 rockets flew into the border town of Israel to Gaza. Last year the number dropped to 350 but still claiming lives. Tactics have been taken now like the bomb shelter playground we visited. Can you imagine, sending your children to a playground in doors is the only way you know your child is safe? It really is quite astonishing to think that this is how these children grow up, in fear of the next rocket hitting them.

We then traveled to a Medical Center right outside Tel Aviv in Holon where there is an amazing program called "Save a Child's Heart." This program is a gift FROM ISRAEL to the ARAB COUNTRIES WITH 43 OTHER COUTRIES. This program provides medical heart surgery and needs to children who cannot get it in other countries. This is beautiful and amazing. It proves that through the eyes of a child, all men become equal.

I do hope as you read my blogs you feel that I am beginning to love this country more deeply than I ever thought possible. God has claimed this land for His people and His people will be protected no matter the schemes of man or the enemy try to prevail. I have lived my life under the skies of Texas and in no time in my childhood did I have to run to a bomb shelter in 15 seconds to be safe. In no days of my youth was I worried about the day I graduated high school and was immediatelly sent to fight two hours away from my home for my country. This is a reality for the people of Israel. It needs to wake us up from the fantasy world we think we live in and become aware of the world that is coming.

So I urge you tonight to look into you heart and see what you would do if all you had was 15 seconds? I thought about this long and hard as I sat and prayed in the Medeterranean Sea tonight. I began thanking God for my life, my family, friends, and this trip. I have learned to see through the eyes of child and understand that sometimes you have to just embrace the bomb shelter God gives you to escape the schemes of the enemy out of it.

I am so excited about what God is doing and will do and doing all I can to have the faith to carry on, the hope to look forward, and the trust to know He has it all under control. I will never be perfect, but I am praying to my God who is!

His love for us is like the waves in the sea; though they may feel distant at times, He always has the plan to bring it into the shore for a boistrous sound and wonderful refreshing current! His love for us is amazing!

I love you all dearly!

Shalom!